State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architecture

The state-of-the-art developments in the photocatalytic reduction of N₂ to NH₃ are presented by classifying the photocatalysts based on chemical composition. Additionally, the correlation between the modification of catalysts and their photocatalytic activity is highlighted.

MXenes: potential catalysts for the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia.

Natural photosynthesis is a solar light-driven process utilized by plants to convert CO2 and water into carbohydrate molecules. The goal of artificial photosynthesis is the reduction of CO2 directly from air into high purity value-added products at atmospheric pressure. However, its realization, combined with deep mechanism investigation, is a huge challenge. Herein, we demonstrate that hexagonal tungsten bronze M0.33WO3 (M = K, Rb, Cs) series with {010} facets, prepared by a peculiar “water-controllable releasing” solvothermal method, showed excellent full spectrum (UV, visible, and NIR lights)-induced photocatalytic CO2 reduction performance directly from the air at ambient pressure. Particularly, after 4 h near-infrared light irradiation, ca. 4.32% CO2 in the air could be converted into CH3OH with 98.35% selectivity for Rb0.33WO3. The experiments and theoretical calculations unveiled that the introduced alkali metal atom occupied the tunnel of hexagonal structure and donated more free electrons to reconstruct the electronic structure of M0.33WO3, which can enhance the polaron transition, modify the energy band structure, selectively adsorb CO2 rather than O2 from the air, decrease the activation energy of CO2 reaction, and finally make the effective CO2 reduction in the air a reality. This work may provide a new possibility for the practical application of artificial photosynthesis.

The oxygen evolution reaction represents an important electrochemical reaction in several energy storage and conversion devices such as water electrolyzers and metal-air batteries. Developing efficient, inexpensive and durable electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been one of the major focuses of applied electrochemistry and has attracted considerable research attention in the past decades. Non-oxide based transition metal compounds, typically transition metal phosphides (TMPs) and chalcogenides (TMCs), have recently emerged as new categories of OER pre-catalysts, demonstrated outstanding electrocatalytic performance as compared to the conventional oxide- or hydroxide-based OER catalysts for alkaline water electrolysis, and even shown promise to replace noble metals for proton-exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. In this feature article, we will summarize the latest advances in the development of TMP- and TMC-based OER electrocatalysts. In particular, we will discuss the electrochemical stability of TMPs and TMCs predicted using Pourbaix diagrams and their morphological, structural and compositional evolution under OER conditions. We will also point out some challenges to be addressed in this specific area of research and propose further investigations yet to be done.

Highly efficient large-area luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) were demonstrated using colloidal C-dots. The large-area LSC (225 cm²) exhibited an external optical efficiency of 2.2% (under natural sun irradiation, 60 mW cm⁻²).

The multi-functional Ni₃C cocatalyst has been demonstrated to markedly boost the robust photocatalytic H₂ evolution g-C₃N₄ nanosheets.

This article highlights the approaches, mechanisms, and applications of special oleophobic/hydrophilic surfaces.

The development of new and highly efficient strategies for the rapid construction of complicated molecular structures has huge implications and remains a preeminent goal in present day synthetic chemistry.

Conductive polymer hydrogels, which combine the advantages of both polymers and conductive materials, have huge potential in flexible supercapacitors.

Quantum dots, derived from two-dimensional (2D) materials, have shown promising applications in bioimaging, photocatalysis, biosensors and white light emission devices (W-LEDs).

Quantum dots, derived from two-dimensional (2D) materials, have shown promise in bioimaging, sensing and photothermal applications, and in white light emitting devices (WLEDs). Herein, nitrogen and phosphorus functionalized Ti3C2 MXene based quantum dots (N,P-MQDs) were successfully prepared through a top-bottom hydrothermal method. This type of photoluminescent quantum dots has realized green fluorescence for the first time at around 560 nm with a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 20.1%, the highest ever reported; meanwhile, it also exhibits excellent photostability and pH resistance capacities. Comprehensive characterization and well-resolved density functional theory (DFT) calculation were implemented to determine the mechanism of fluorescence shift and enhancement. Furthermore, the N,P-MQDs have been proved to efficiently act as fluorescent probes for macrophage labeling. In addition, the high sensitivity of the N,P-MQDs toward Cu2+ ions made them a low cost, sensitive, environment-friendly, and label-free fluorescence platform for Cu2+ detection. The outstanding performance of Ti3C2 MXene based quantum dots has demonstrated their great potential to be used as promising fluorescent probes in the fields of biological imaging, optical sensing, photoelectric conversion, etc.

This review highlights the opportunities and challenges in stability of organic solar cells arising from the emergence of non-fullerene acceptors.

Clay materials including clay minerals and layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have attracted great attention because of their special layer structures, large specific surface areas, and remarkable adsorption capacities. In the past few decades, they have been regarded as important components or precursors for making various functional materials. This paper aims to review and summarize the recent advances in the synthesis and photocatalytic applications of clay-based photocatalysts. Moreover, the effects of surface and structural characteristics of clay-based photocatalysts on photocatalytic properties are also discussed. The clay-based photocatalysts show good application prospects for environmental remediation and energy conversion. Especially, H2 generation and reduction of CO2 into carbon sources can be easily achieved using the LDH-based photocatalysts. Meanwhile, the role of clay materials in the photocatalysis is discussed in detail.

The unique economical design of sulfur and nitrogen co-doped carbon dots with high photoluminescence quantum yield and superior performance for environmental Hg²⁺detection.

Single transition metal atoms supported by defective g-C₃N₄ are examined by DFT for electrochemical N₂ fixation. The single Ti atom is the most promising candidate for its high activity and stability owing to the coordination number of the <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" id="ugr1" xlink:href="http://pubs.rsc.org/TA/2018/c8ta06497k/c8ta06497k-u1..gif"/> active center.

Abstract In recent years, visible‐light‐induced C−H bond functionalization has become an emerging field at the forefront of organic chemistry. In a general sense, these approaches rely on the capability of metal complexes and organic dyes to convert visible light into chemical energy by engaging in single‐electron transfer with organic substrates, thus generating reactive intermediates. This review covers most of the strategies involving visible light‐induced benzylic and non‐benzylic alkylation, halogination, oxidation, vinylation, arylation, benzylation, acetylation, formylation, thiocyanation, xanthylation, azidation, amination, addition, and coupling reactions of sp 2 and sp 3 C−H bonds. magnified image

N-doped carbon-dots (N-CDs) are for the first time reported to be used as phosphors for LSC fabrication.

The <italic>in situ</italic> structural evolution of the catalyst was successfully achieved by <italic>in situ</italic> electrochemical dealloying approach. Direct evidence of O–O bond formation was probed by <italic>operando</italic> ATR FT-IR, suggesting the direct O₂ evolution mechanism.

A series of single atom supported on Ti₂CO₂ and Mo₂CO₂ MXenes were systematically explored as efficient electrocatalysts for electro-catalytic N₂ reduction. We demonstrate that Ru and Mo atoms anchored MXenes are highly activity.

Research on 2D materials has recently become one of the hottest topics that has attracted broad interdisciplinary attention. 2D materials offer fascinating platforms for fundamental science and technological explorations at the nanometer scale and molecular level, and exhibit diverse potential applications for future advanced nano-photonics and electronics. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique has shown great promise for producing high-quality 2D materials with superior electro-optical performance. However, it is difficult to synthesize continuous single-crystal 2D materials with large domain sizes and good uniformity due to the low vapor pressure of their precursors. It has been observed that the addition of selected synergistic additives to the CVD process under mild conditions can result in uniformly large-area and highly crystalline monolayer 2D materials with exceptional optical/electrical properties. Moreover, the 2D material-based devices chemically modified by synergistic additives can achieve superior performances compared to those previously reported. In this review, we compare several typical synergistic additive-mediated CVD growth processes of 2D materials, as well as their superior properties, and provide some perspectives and challenges for the future of this emerging research field.